According to the Department of Justice, the second-largest redlining settlement in history, a Pennsylvania mortgage company owned by multibillionaire tycoon Warren Buffett discriminated against prospective Black and Latino homebuyers in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Delaware.
The DOJ and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleged in its settlement with Trident that the company purposefully avoided issuing mortgages in West Philadelphia, Camden, New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware, all of which have a significant minority population. Trident will be required to set aside $20 million as part of the agreement with the DOJ and CFPB to provide loans in underrepresented regions.
The DOJ said that Trident workers called particular communities "ghettos," made racist remarks about lending money to Black homebuyers, and even posed for photos in front of the Confederate flag. Trident stopped writing mortgages in 2020.
According to Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney general with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, "Trident's unlawful redlining activity denied communities of color equal access to residential mortgages, stripped them of the opportunity to build wealth, and devalued properties in their neighborhoods."
A request for comment was not immediately answered by HomeServices of America, the parent firm of Trident.
This article was contributed on Aug 02, 2022
